Fight over Clovis teachers union takes a twist. Critics call it ‘union-busting strategy’

Amid a battle with pro-union organizers, Clovis Unified School District’s faculty senate voted this week to form a new employee organization called the Clovis Teachers Organization.

“Currently, faculty senate isn’t recognized by (the Public Employee Relations Board) as a representative body, (and) anybody else, any outside group, can try to come in and influence and gain access or representation,” said faculty senate Vice President Bill Buettner. “And we would like to make sure that the people that negotiate or work with (the) administration and the district and in the community are Clovis Unified teachers representing Clovis Unified teachers.”

According to a news release from the senate, 96.9% of the votes cast at the senate meeting on Monday supported filing for recognition from PERB as a new organization. Now organizers must gather enough signatures to be recognized by the state agency.

If that happens, the faculty senate will dissolve, as there can only be one organization that represents faculty, Buettner told The Bee.

The CTO would be a non-union organization composed only of certificated teachers, and it will not be affiliated with the Association of Clovis Educators, or any labor organization, according to the news release.

“There are many teachers in the district that are not interested in being part of any outside organization,” said Buettner, a secondary math teacher.

According to the senate’s news release, the CTO would not be “beholden to any political ideology and is free to advocate and negotiate on behalf of our fellow teachers of CUSD while still upholding the rich traditions of excellence that the families and communities of Clovis Unified School District expect and enjoy.”

The Association of Clovis Educators, formed in 2020, has been pushing for teachers to unionize. Clovis Unified is the largest district in the state without a teachers union. In recent months, ACE has filed complaints with the California Public Employment Relations Board, alleging Clovis Unified continues to support and influence the faculty senate, which the pro-union organizers say interferes with efforts to launch a labor union to better represent faculty.

The senate’s decision to form an official representative organization with PERB is confusing for some teachers, including Kristin Heimerdinger, a high school teacher, and ACE spokesperson.

She said the senate seems to agree now that “an independent voice is what is needed, but their declaration to become an exclusive representative with bargaining rights is super confusing because they say they don’t want to be a union.

“It’s a classic union-busting strategy of just trying to create more confusion and trying to muddy the waters,” Heimerdinger said, “because really all it’s done is just make educators confused about what their options are.”

Buettner argued that the organization would not be union-like because there would be no connection to groups like the California Teachers Association, the National Educational Association, or the American Federation of Teachers.

“This is a self-represented group — Clovis Unified teachers representing Clovis Unified teachers,” he said. “This has no affiliation with any outside labor organization.”

Buettner said calling the move a union-busting strategy is “a baseless charge.

“By definition, union-busting is an action performed by an employer,” he said. “The Clovis Teacher Organization is composed of employees who wish to exercise our right to self-determination.”